Hughlett Point Natural Area Preserve

Hughlett Point Natural Area Preserve

Two weeks ago, my bride to be and I headed out toward the Chesapeake Bay to visit a little area that had been on my radar for a while.  Hughlett Point Natural Area Preserve is located on a small peninsula about midway between where the Potomac and Rapphannock rivers meet the bay.  From Fredericksburg it is about an hour and a half drive.

I found this place through one of my favorite ways of finding new destinations.  I open up Google Maps and scroll around to an area I'm either going to be driving through, or that I think would be fun to explore.  From there I start zooming in and searching for green spots on the map.  Green spots are generally parks, protected forests, or golf courses (make sure you're not trying to explore a golf course without permission).  On this particular spot in Virginia there are 3 different green spots on the water; Hughlett Point, obviously, Belle Isle State Park, and Dameron Marsh Natural Area Preserve.

I had never been to any but after doing a few quick google image searches decided Hughlett Point was my destination.  We plugged in the GPS (click for directions), fueled up the car, and hit the road.  The route took us down route 17 to Tappahannock then across the Rappahannock River Bridge.  We then followed route 3 out till we turned on to some back roads and finally arrived at a small parking lot off an old country road.  I will suggest downloading the offline maps before heading out, I realized once we turned off route 3 that I didn't have signal and had to make mental notes of the turns to make sure I could get back.

The lot is small with enough room for probably 15-20 cars, there is a chain gate that I assume closes at dark.  There is also room on the side of the road for probably 4-5 cars, however when we got there there was plenty open parking.  The trailhead is located in the North East corner of the parking lot (you can't miss it) and has a few signs talking about the wildlife, insect species, and plant species found.  You will see a small boardwalk trail leading out of the lot in to the woods.  I will note that we only explored a small portion of the park, and there may be another trailhead further south of this parking lot.

The walk to the water is very short, maybe 3/10 of a mile.  You come to a split after about .25 mile and there is a trail sign there.  Go left to get to the beach, right will take you to some more trails (we did not go right).  You will come out to a beach area, we found some people swimming, sunbathing, and kids playing in the sand.  It was not crowded at all and plenty of space to move about.  We took a right after emerging from the woods on to the beach and headed up the shoreline.  Neither of us brought sandals and the sand was a little tough walking in but we sufficed.  We walked about a half a mile around the shoreline till we got to a spot where it appeared the trail headed in to an inlet area.  After about 5 minutes I decided to take off my shoes and go exploring, and I'm so glad I did.  It took Laura a little longer, but eventually she did too.

The inlet area was FILLED with crabs, little fish, birds, and all sorts of other critters.  I had a blast running around chasing the crabs and trying to get pictures of them.  I didn't bring my long lens so I didn't get many photos of the birds, but this day I didn't care.  I spent about an hour acting like a kid in a candy store.  The mud under the sand was soft and from time to time I would sink in while trying to walk through the water.  Laura plopped down on the shoreline and watched the waves on the bay for a bit while I chased crabs trying not to get bit.

We eventually made our way further down the beach and found a bunch of driftwood which for me was the idea picturesque location.  I broke out the tripod and all my other fun little gadgets and starting taking some landscape shots.  Both Laura and I stepped on stuff in the sand, she got a small cut (make sure to wear sandals!!!) but we both survived.  We spent another hour or so here until the sun started setting.  We decided to head back to the car, but also decided that this would not be our only trip here as there was plenty more to explore.

Walking back the sun was setting in front of us and really started to light up the sky.  Surprisingly I wasn't thrilled about leaving, I'm not a big beach or water fan, but knew we needed to get back.  We hopped in the car and started retracing our route, as we crossed the Rappahannock River bridge we made a left on to route 17 to take us in to downtown Tappahannock.  We stopped at Lowery's Seafood Restaurant for dinner.  The food was fantastic and our server was amazing.  It was a bit on the pricier side (I prefer dollar menu) but it was all very good and worth the cost.

We returned home late that evening tired and with another great adventure under our belts.  I can't wait to head back and see more of this little hidden gem and explore some of the other areas out on the water.  Leave your comments below if you've ever visited or if you have any recommendations on places out in the Northern Neck and be sure to subscribe!!

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